The amazing life and fate of Ivan Vasilyevich Kulaev can serve as an example for a true entrepreneur. He tried his luck in the mines in the tundra, drowned under the ice of the Yenisei, survived the Chinese boxer rebellion, the Russian-Japanese and the First World War, the revolution, the nationalization of property, and bandit kidnapping... Every time he started from scratch, he believed in his luck, in his lucky star. The book recreates the authentic atmosphere of everyday life, economy and industry of Siberia at the beginning of the century.